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Biggles on the Trail! (1941)
Biggles on the Trail! is a short story which was first published in the Modern Boy's Annual 1941. It is based on Biggles on the Trail! published in The Modern Boy issue 291, 2nd September 1933 and The Thought Reader from but heavily adapted into a World War 2 1940s setting. Synopsis Biggles' observation skills uncovers a German spy working behind the lines and giving away the positions of British troops. Getting rid of the spy proves to be the easy part. He must also convince those whose lives are at risk. Plot (may contain spoilers - click on expand to read) Characters *Biggles *Algy Lacey *Colonel Raymond - Wing Headquarters Intelligence Officer Aircraft *Supermarine Spitfire *Messerschmitt Me 109 Places Visited *An aerodrome in France and the surroundings Research Notes Discrepancies *This is generally an unsatisfactory adaptation with a host of discrepancies which should have been apparent to Johns even at the time he was adapting the story. It is possible that he knew: he had removed a number of details which contained the worst of the incongruities. So all French place names are removed, and Raymond is no longer from 51st Wing Headquarters (definitely a WW1 R.F.C. reference). But large numbers of discrepancies remain as detailed below. *R.A.F. ranks are used for Biggles and Algy but Raymond is still a Colonel with Wing Headquarters. The R.A.F. rank of Group Captain is not used. *Spitfires were not based in aerodromes in France in 1940. *In any case, was Biggles commanding a fighter squadron so early in the war? He had spent most of the early months on special operations. In , it is suggested that he had a squadron in France which Algy had taken over. But in , he tells his adjutant Toddy that he had asked for a "proper" fighter squadron and had finally been given one. *The timeline is implausible. As in The Thought Reader, it is summer and time for the harvest of wheat in France. This would make it June. June 1940 was a bad time for the allies. Dunkirk had already taken place. There were few British forces left on the ground and mostly the French defenders were in retreat. The relaxed atmosphere on the aerodrome where "the war seemed far away" is implausible. *Raymond continues to mention troops "awaiting their turn to move up to the trenches". Elsewhere, Biggles mentions "archie". These are World War I references. Trench warfare does not fit the 1940s Battle of France context and Biggles should have said "ack-ack". *The Brigade-major was rude to Biggles when he landed to warn the brigade of its danger. This is plausible in The Thought Reader where he outranked Biggles who was then a captain. In this present story, Biggles is a Squadron Leader and his equal. Perhaps the brigade-major didn't see the rings on Biggles' sleeve, but then, why did Biggles call him "sir"? *The reference to "Sherlock Holmes" in the story is changed in this adaptation to "Sexton Blake", it is not clear why. But Johns forgot this and, towards the end of the story, Raymond says to Biggles, "Good work, Sherlock!" Chronology (see also table at Timeline of the Biggles Stories) *Like in The Thought Reader, the mentions of summer and the harvest of wheat in France point to June, in this case, rather implausibly, to June 1940. Publication History *''Modern Boy's Annual'', 1941 *Reprinted in Biggles & Co., The W. E. Johns Quarterly Magazine, Number 17, October 1993. References Category:Short stories Category:Biggles short stories Category:World War Two era short stories Category:Uncollected stories